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GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Guitarist Tim Bowman liked the view from the Rosa Parks Circle Stage – the Grand Rapids Art Museum on his right, the JW Marriott rising into the sky on his left, and Maya Lin’s pocket park “Ecliptic” full of thousands of people for the GRandJazzFest.

“It’s been 20 years since I’ve been here, and I don’t remember any of this,” said Bowman, who headlined the first Grand Rapids Jazz Festival on Saturday.

“I took a little stroll around, and it’s just beautiful,” said Bowman, of Detroit.

The audience, numbering at least 3,000 by the end of the night, liked what they heard when the smooth jazz guitarist slipped into his 2008 hit “Sweet Sundays,” never mind it still was Saturday evening.

The GRandJazzFest debuted on Saturday with six acts and more than nine hours of music all afternoon, ranging from Afro-Cuban and Latin jazz of Grupo Aye to straight ahead sounds of The Steve Hilger Quintet.

The new jazz festival welcomed a nearly new artist, saxophonist Phil Denny, who released his first album, “Crossover,” just three weeks ago, but long enough to climb onto the smooth jazz charts.

Thanks to his wireless mike, Denny worked his way through the audience on a couple of numbers, trailed by people snapping photos as he played his tenor sax.

“I need to come out in the audience more often,” he said after playing the aptly titled tune, “When We Were Friends.”

GRandJazzFest founder Audrey Sundstrom said the all-day, free festival, with Eddie Rucker of WZZM-TV 13 as emcee, was everything organizers hoped for, from the weather to the audience turnout.

“It’s the best it could be,” Sundstrom said. “Everyone wanted to be here, and the artists appreciated that.”

Tim and Julie Calderone, owners of Kilwins on Monroe Center, had no doubts about the numbers of people downtown, not only for the GRandJazzFest across the street, but also the second day of the City Lights Electronic Music Festival on Calder Plaza.